Welcome to our newest addition to the blog - Historical Tidbit Thursdays!
Today we will delve into the realm of marriage in the Comanche band. Like mentioned last week, girls typically married around 15 or 16 years while boys married later around 25 or 30 years (as they accumulated their wealth and prestige). Older men with wealth could offer a girl's father a larger bride-price (dowry) which usually consisted of many horses.
When a boy wanted to marry a girl, he would give a present (usually a horse) to her brother or father to show he could provide for the family. It was custom for the son-in-law to provide for the wives' family. If the father accepted the proposal, the horse was added to the family's herd.
There was no real ceremony. The groom simply took the bride and her belongings to his own tipi. There might be feasting and dancing to celebrate.
If a boy was too poor to afford a bride-price (dowry), the girl might decide to elope with the boy. In this case, relatives or friends would donate horses to assuage the affronted parents.
A girl's family would never seek out a potential groom except in cases where a white captive showed potential as a great warrior/provider. A full-blooded Comanche would consider this disgraceful.
A bride's mother/relatives/friends would help get the couple started with housekeeping and furnishings.
Source:
The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel; ISBN#978-0806120409
Picture credit - Quanah and his 2 wives - http://amertribes.proboards.com/thread/593
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